NHL's Anaheim Ducks prove a statistical anomaly

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Anaheim Ducks are an interesting study in statistics.

Their power play is the worst in the National Hockey League, working an abysmal 8.2% of the time. Their penalty kill isn’t much better, with just a 76.2% success rate. But, even with special teams that have them ranked 30th and 26th in the NHL, respectively, they’re the fourth best team in the league thanks to a 9-3-0 start that’s netted them 18 points in their first 12 games.

“I really believe that this is a team that can go far,” Ducks center Saku Koivu said.

“At times, we’re playing really, really good hockey, especially 5-on-5 where I think our defensive game has been pretty consistent. But offensively, we’re still trying to find the combinations and trying to find a little more offense. The one thing we really have to improve is our special teams, both the penalty killing and the power play. We’ve been struggling, but fortunately we’ve still been winning games and it gives you a little more time to get those things going. But if you want to be successful, we have to be better in those areas.”

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Even after Anaheim managed to win a 4-3 contest in Columbus at the gorgeous Nationwide Arena on Sunday night – having done so with their third goalie of the year and getting a rare power play goal in the process – they still weren’t satisfied.

“I don’t think anybody’s happy about our power play,” Anaheim legend Teemu Selanne said. “There were a lot of mistakes. There’s no confidence, we’re almost squeezing our sticks lately, but at least we got one important goal today. Sometimes, one is enough. That’s one area where we want to be better.”

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That third goalie of Anaheim’s, Frederik Andersen, has many thinking that stalwart starter Jonas Hiller could be on the move shortly. The 24-year-old was signed to a two-year contract extension last week, and made his NHL debut on October 20 after talented backup Viktor Fasth went down with an injury.

The Denmark native has stopped 68 of his first 72 shots faced to post a spotless 3-0 record with a 1.50 goals against average and .944 save percentage.

“It’s been a proud moment getting to play in the NHL, and obviously the (contract too,” he said. “It’s a commitment for the future, so it’s been a fun week.”

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While the Ducks have already used three goalies this season, Columbus has been able to get by with the standard two. One name you surely know in this neck of the woods, Sergei Bobrovsky, but you might not be familiar with the other, Curtis McElhinney.

The 30-year-old is perseverance personified, having bounced around between five different organizations since the start of the 2009-10 season and enduring a full year in the American Hockey League – in which he was an All-Star for the Springfield Falcons -- before finally getting back to the NHL this year with the Blue Jackets.

“I’m a 30-year-old guy playing in the minor leagues, so it was difficult,” he said. “But it was an enjoyable year last year, I was fortunate to be on a pretty good team. There’s always that thought in the back of your mind whether or not this is it. I was thinking about potentially going to Europe and stuff, but you know what, Columbus believed in me and gave me this opportunity. So I’m extremely grateful.”

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Newark’s Prudential Center was the site of the inaugural Liberty Hockey Invitational on Friday and Saturday, a four-team, two-day event that featured some of the best college hockey the ECAC had to offer.

Although there was no tournament-format to the event, the Brown Bears were declared the champion after knocking off defending national champion Yale in the opener and defeating Dartmouth on Saturday.

But perhaps more importantly, with six NHL draft picks between the four teams, and others such as Princeton’s Andrew Calof likely to draw attention this spring as undrafted free agents, players got to experience an early look at playing on the big stage.

“I think it’s exciting for them,” Tigers head coach Bob Prier said.

“It’s such a nice opportunity for them to come in and not only play in a venue like this, but get to play for a championship during the first week of the season. This is the way that college hockey is set up down the stretch, with single-game elimination championship-type formats. To be able to play in something like this at the start of the season that has some emotion and championship tied to it, it’s a tremendous experience. To do it at “The Rock” just adds to it.”

Added Dartmouth head coach Bob Gaudet: “I think it’s great, I like the whole atmosphere of the tournament…we got to see the NHL game (Thursday), so that was nice for our guys. To have these games before we get into league play, it’s huge. And then to have the extra benefit of playing in an NHL rink, because we don’t get a chance to do that very often…it’s a lot of fun for our guys.”